I had brought along my Later Carthaginian army with me, but checking dates found this to be the Early Carthaginian army. I'd never really done much more than skim this army list before, but liked what I found: half the army (ie. 6 elements) made up of Punic Spear, making it much closer to the contemporary Hoplite Armies than Later Carthaginian with swarms of mercenaries, up to two cavalry elements, a couple of Psiloi and a unit of Auxiliary and up to two elements of Heavy Chariots. A really good selection of troop types.
I could field everything except the Heavy Chariots, which was a shame as it would have been nice to field a 'killer' element like them. Steve kindly offered to turn a blind eye, but I said I was happy to go with cavalry instead.
I was also happy to let Steve go with Spartan's for Doric Greeks, but obviously fancied a 'change of army' to finish the evening, and went entirely properly with the Syracusan Army. This also gave him a core of mercenary, Syracusan or allied hoplites, ie. 6 to 8 elements of Spear, up to two cavalry, one of Light Horse, up to 2 peltasts, one psiloi, and options to take either an element of warband (Gallic mercenaries) or artillery.
For the first time during the evening I rolled up to be the attacker. Steve set up the terrain, with coastline completely down one side with two areas of sand dunes a little inland and a steep hill beyond that. I think I threw Steve a little when I nominated (and won the roll) to fight across the 'length' rather than width of table putting Steve with his back to the sea. I think I further threw him off balance when, after he had deployed, I deployed virtually all my army on the left flank, psiloi and auxiliaries holding the steep hill in the centre, spearmen to their right and cavalry, the whole right flank. It was my plan to unsettle him, and launch all my force against his left flank and use the superior speed on my relatively large cavalry force to attempt a wide envelopment of that flank.
My deployment certainly caused a few minutes of chin rubbing on Steve's part, which I cut short by moving my force aggresively forward.
Steve responded by racing his Light Horse towards my Carthaginian camp, which I had placed in the centre of my baseline, and my right flank deployment had left exposed. His comment was 'I learnt this trick from a guy I played earlier this evening!'
...meanwhile he moved his main force forward...
....I swung my cavalry and spearmen further forward...
...and Steve moved his Light Horse again...
...and moved his main force again...
...I decided I couldn't leave the camp undefended and dispatched my general if necessary to recapture...
...Steve did not have enough PIPs on his next move to move his Light Horse, as it was out of command range of his general, so my general element was able to close in on them this turn...
...and the next, causing him to back them off...
...at least while he brought up the rest of his cavalry with some peltasts...
...which gave me chance to get my light troops and general in a line...
...Steve continued to advance the hoplites in his centre, and joined his cavalry with his light horse, leaving his peltasts to cover the flank of his phalanx...
...I sent in some of my psiloi to attack his peltasts...
...but was driven off...
...Steve rolled a good PIP roll, so could take the initiative...
...including attacking my general...
...and the psiloi he'd pushed back with his peltasts...
...and also attacked my cavalry with the Gallic mercenary warband and more peltasts, who springing an ambush from the dunes...
...while the phalanx closed in...
...being outnumbered did not phase my general whose bodyguard destroyed the cavalry to their front.. first blood to me!
...while the cavalry on my left flank repulsed the attacking infantry, and his peltasts merely recoiled my psiloi...
...not a great PIP roll on my turn...
...But enough the ambush the Light Horse with auxiliaries charging down the steep hill, while my general charged them from the front...
...who annoyingly fought well and repulsed my troops...
...fortunately Steve's PIP roll wasn't much better...
...which he used to attack my cavalry again...
...and my psiloi..
...this time he had more luck against my cavalry and destroyed them...
..and his peltasts continued to drive back my psiloi..
...on my turn, another good PIP roll...
...enabling me to launch another attack on his light horse and send both my psiloi and auxilaries to attack his peltasts on his right, and pull back my exposed cavalry on my right...
...this time Steve's light horse were toast...
...and so were his peltasts...three of his elements destroyed for only the loss of one of mine, just one more for victory...
...in contrast Steve again had a lousy PIP roll...
...this was enough to charge his warband into my next cavalry unit...
...and charge his phalanx into my psiloi, but not enough to add second elements as flank support in either combat. Against the psiloi in particular he could not destroy them..
...unlike the warband, who took out their second cavalry unit. These rampaging barbarians are deadly!
...on my move I detached three elements of spear from my main line and flung them at the warband, a move not without its risks. Warband do not push back spear,they destroy them with their wild charge, so my +2 combat factor advantage had to swing it or two of my elements would be toast...
...but I rolled 4 and Steve 2, so even without the flank support I would have destroyed the element! That was FOUR elements destroyed from the Syracusans...I'd won!So with most of their supporting troops protecting their flanks destroyed, we can assume that the Greek mercenary hoplites decided to run for it, leaving the rest little option but to follow them. The city of Selinius is sacked, and the Greeks on Sicily have learnt that their hitherto peaceful neighbours will not sit back and watch them take over the iland of Sicily...
...both Steve and I agreed, a great night of DBA, and a great way to christen his extremely nicely looking pair of armies! The campaign setting, loose though it was, was sufficient to get Steve hooked enough to have us thinking about our own Thursday sessions to advance it some more!
For my part, I've discovered the Early Carthaginian army, which has its own charms compared to that of the Punic Wars, not least a couple of elements of heavy Chariot, which I've set my mind to acquiring and painting up...
